Quorum DLT Platform Aims To Transfer Asset Ownership Using Chain Tree

Quorum Control is a Berlin-based startup that recently launched Tupelo, a distributed ledger technology (DLT) platform modeled for ownership. It presents a way to securely transfer asset ownership for businesses and individuals. The approach to blockchain technology is different, using a “chain tree” data structure instead of blocks.

Tupelo is designed for real-world applications and optimizing ownership transfer in a variety of industries, including real estate (title transfer) and supply chain management. The six-person startup has secured $2.8 million in Series A funding and created a working TestNet.

Topper Bowers, CEO and founder of Quorum Control, provided some answers on what the new blockchain can do.

Where does Tupelo fit in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency?

Tupelo allows users to own and use unique assets and data (as opposed to fungible currency). Tupelo takes the concept of NFTs and makes them more robust and usable for today’s real-world projects. We’ve created a DLT that is industry-agnostic and accessible to users looking to optimize real-world applications. We’re focused on building more than just an algorithm — we strive to create a flourishing and collaborative developer community. We believe that approaching coders and saying “our platform is better for your provenance project, and we can help you start building on it right now” is a powerful message that resonates with that audience. We want to see this protocol reach its full potential, and that requires creating a developer culture that allows for experimentation.

What are your technology’s key differentiators compared to your competition?

Tupelo is fundamentally different from any other existing DLT platform because it models individual asset ownership and provenance as the base layer (rather than a token exchange). Unlike existing non-fungible token protocols (NFTs), Tupelo only verifies relevant transaction history and does not need smart contracts to operate, enabling scalability while saving on energy and computing costs. This new method of achieving consensus among distributed systems eliminates the need for validating entire use histories (solving a key limitation that makes blockchains difficult to scale) and can only be modified by their owner, which limits attack vectors. Individuals and businesses looking to optimize their operations using this industry-agnostic DLT can still reap the benefits of blockchain while avoiding spikes in energy or computing costs.

Our technology, coupled with our curated approach to developer partnerships, and our extraordinarily experienced team of founders, makes us uniquely qualified to be market makers for real-world DLT applications and constitutes a significant step forward for this emerging technology. We have designed the protocol to be as user-friendly as possible and can’t wait to see what types of applications our developer community can create.

Who are your customers?

For now, our primary customers are developers interested in building applications on the Tupelo platform. We launched our TestNet on Nov 1, 2018 with a pipeline of well-resourced developers who are ready to use Tupelo. We’ve designed Tupelo to support organizations that range from startups all the way to Fortune 500 companies, both on a global scale. We anticipate having 2-3 active developers in early TestNet with a focus on rolling out several more.

Why did you decide to base your headquarters in Berlin?

Berlin has a thriving, collaborative, and exciting developer atmosphere. After spending several weeks in the city with my wife and seeing firsthand how the community was structured to support and encourage building technology, starting the company here was a no-brainer.

There are lots of great blockchain companies in Berlin with real-world projects popping up, and I identified this ecosystem as one that would really help us flourish. The city has a unique hippy-hacker-anarchist culture and a larger than normal pool of cryptographers. As a result, this collection of developers was incredibly receptive to distributed ledger technology once it proliferated. A big differentiator for us was the pure variety of DLT projects I’ve seen here. Projects aiming to change music, finance, help retirees, create social goods, push UN projects forward, make agriculture sustainable – you name it. It seemed like a better fit than Silicon Valley, New York, and London, which have spawned mostly fintech or pure-tech algorithmic companies.

Additionally, the European regulatory environment has been straightforward and conducive to innovation. We wanted to be in a regulated country — one that provides certainty, but still allows new technologies to experiment.

How have you raised funding in order to scale?

In a space marked by over-promising and under-delivering, Quorum Control is focused on creating real-world value before pursuing a token sale. After seeing ICOs raise hundreds of millions of dollars with nothing but a whitepaper and a lot of hype, we decided to focus on building tangible value by creating our platform after partnering with venture capitalists known for smart tech investments.

Traditional equity funding was the best option for us because it’s a proven financial structure with a track record of building meaningful technology. We’re incredibly excited to work with all of our investors, including the incredible team at Initialized Capital, because they have already scaled great companies and developed platforms flexible and accessible enough to attract developers. Once we have used the traditional equity investment to complete the foundational technology, we will use a token sale to raise funds for organizational growth, further platform development, and continue developing key partnerships. Our goal is to have developers in multiple industries operating on the platform by the time of the token sale.